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Machop Line/RSE
Machop appears in both Fiery Path and Jagged Pass in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. In Ruby and Sapphire only it appears on Route 112. Important Matchups - Emerald = * Tabitha (Mt. Chimney): Smack around the initial Numel and Poochyena with Karate Chop; Dig also works for the Numel if you have it as it lacks Magnitude. The other Numel does have Magnitude though, and should be avoided because of this. Machop can only challenge Zubat if it has Rock Tomb, but it's still risky as both 2HKO the other and Zubat starts out faster. * Maxie (Mt. Chimney): Low Kick/Karate Chop the Mightyena, possibly starting with Bulk Up to eliminate the Intimidate debuff and being mindful of Sand-Attack. Handle Zubat the same as you did with Tabitha's. Avoid Camerupt; while Low Kick is potent against its heavy self Magnitude has the potential for massive damage, even one-shotting if it rolls a Magnitude 10. * Gym #4 - Flannery (Lavaridge Town, Fire-type): Machop needs to stay out of this altogether due to the omnipresence of Overheat wreaking havoc on its poor Special Defense. If you ground up to the point of evolving, things improve dramatically. Numel can be taken out with Karate Chops/Low Kicks. (Don't Dig, because Magnitude.) Machoke clobbers Slugma with Rock Tomb or Dig. Camerupt should be dealt with using Low Kick, though a Machoke that is slower than it will have to heal if it leads with Overheat, and should stay out of the battle if Sunny Day's in effect. Also note that male Machoke/Machamp will have to watch out for Attract from both Camerupt and Torkoal. Then again, it shouldn't be fighting Torkoal anyway, what with its massive Defense and getting two full-power Overheats thanks to its White Herb. * Gym #5 - Norman (Petalburg City, Normal-type): Machoke/Machamp can pretty much Low Kick the crap out of anything here, with the exception of Spinda who requires an alternate STAB due to its lightness. Two things to note though: 1. Pulling off a sweep with just Mach- will require healing; do not do this in front of Linoone as you don't want it pulling off Belly Drum. 2. DO NOT attack Slaking on its attacking turns or you risk killing your own 'mon via Counter - using those turns for Bulk Up setting up is a good idea. * Shelly (Weather Institute): Two Dark types with only Dark moves for direct damage? What a joke. Give them both a taste of your STAB moves. * Rival (Route 119): If Machoke/champ has Rock Tomb and Bulk UP it can try to take out Pelipper, though given Wing Attack and Rock Tomb's imperfect accuracy it's a bit of a risk. Dish out STABs at Lombre, whose attacks are rather weak. Slugma can be taken out by just about anything Mach has due to how fragile it is, and it might even burn in the process for a nice Guts-based boost. Dig Combusken if you have it, otherwise any Fighting move stronger than Low Kick will work. (Or a Bulk Up + Low Kick.) One use of Bulk Up + STAB spam will allow Machoke to take out Marshtomp; Machamp can skip the Bulk Up. Machoke should avoid Grovyle, but Machamp's buff enough to STAB it to death. * Gym #6 - Winona (Fortree City, Flying-type): Aerial Ace on everything makes this ill-advised even with Rock Tomb. Though if need be, Machamp can try its luck against one of Swablu, Tropius or Pelipper, while Machoke can only handle Swablu. * Rival (Lilycove City): Tropius is ill-advised for Machoke as your Rock Tomb and its Magical Leaf are 4HKO's and Rock Tomb's inaccurate; Machamp gets a much-safer 3HKO vs Tropius's 5HKO. Pelipper is very similar to Winona's and should be treated accordingly. Ludicolo's moves are sorely underpowered and so it can be Low Kicked to death by either Mach. Slugma's still a joke. Combusken's handled like before, and is slightly less threatening without its Double Kick. Marshtomp is unchanged, as is Grovyle. * Tabitha (Jagged Pass Hideout): Low Kick the Numel, Mightyena and Camerupt while Zubat is dispatched with Rock Tomb. The fact that Machoke/Machamp likely has a decent amount of level advantage makes it even easier. * Maxie (Jagged Pass Hideout): Low Kick Mightyena to death. Crobat's only doable if a few stacks of Bulk Up were built up on Mightyena (hard to pull off, given the presence of Roar.) Low Kick also works for Camerupt, unless it's faster than Machoke; Machamp's fine either way. * Matt (Lilycove Hideout): Mightyena's a joke, not even having any offensive moves; deal with it using your choice of STAB. Golbat is like Maxie's Crobat, in that it's only to be fought with Bulk Up stacks built up during the Mightyena fight, with the same issue of Mightyena having Roar. * Gym #7 - Tate and Liza (Mossdeep City, Psychic-type): A Fighting type in a Psychic gym? To quote Darth Vader: "NOOooOOOoooOOOooo!" * Maxie and Tabitha (Mossdeep Space Center, tag battle with Steven): Machoke/champ can Low Kick the collective butts of each Mightyena and Camerupt but should not stay on the field if one of the bats is in play. * Shelly (Seafloor Cavern): Once again, STAB saves the day. * Archie (Seafloor Cavern): Avoid the Crobat, but feel free to serve up Fighting flavored pain to both his Dark types. * Gym #8 - Juan (Sootopolis City, Water-type): Luvdisc is potentially annoying but weak, smack it with Brick Break. Either Mach shouldn't fight Whiscash unless they already have at least one Bulk Up set-up beforehand. Sealeo falls easily enough to Brick Break. Crawdaunt is safe for Machamp but Machoke will either need to be faster or have at least one Bulk Up set up. Kingdra's really only doable with enough Bulk Ups to one-shot it (Machoke needs 5 if using Brick Break or 4 with Low Kick, for Machamp it's 4/3 respectfully) and you won't want to try setting up during Kingdra due to Double Team being a thing. * Wally (Victory Road): Machoke should stay away from Altaria; Machamp could theoretically manage, but it'd have to land every one of its Rock Tombs, which is unlikely. Delcatty is steamrolled by Fighting moves. Roselia can be battled if Mach has Earthquake; don't bother if it doesn't. Mach needs to OHKO Magneton as it can't safely take more than on Thunderbolt; this will require Earthquake or a 120 BP Revenge. Gardevoir eats Fighting types for breakfast. * Elite Four Sidney (Ever Grande City, Dark-type): Bulk Up once (or twice if using Machoke) and proceed to plow through his whole team. * Elite Four Phoebe (Ever Grande City, Ghost-type): And then there's this girl. Foresight's basically mandatory if Mach is to be used here. The initial Dusclops's bulk and Curse/Protect combo mean even Machamp can't deal with it. Banette should only be fought if you're certain the one you're facing is the one without Psychic; even then Mach will have to already have at least one Bulk Up in use. Her second Dusclops can be Brick Breaked after Foresight, though Machoke will need at least one Bulk Up. At least Sableye is easy. * Elite Four Glacia (Ever Grande City, Ice-type): Both Sealeo fall easily enough to STAB; do not use the initial one for setup, though, as you risk being locked into Bulk Up by Encore. Machoke can one-shot the level 50 Glalie if it still has Low Kick but will need two Bulk Ups already in place if using Brick Break; Machamp can forge ahead buffless. The second Glalie is far more dangerous, having Explosion; Machoke will need at least two Bulk Up stacks to survive while Machamp can manage with just one. Machamp can handle Walrein without buffs but Machoke will need at least three. * Elite Four Drake (Ever Grande City, Dragon-type): Shelgon's a pretty prime target for building up Bulk Ups (and Machoke will need a few anyway to get past its high Defense). And both will certain need those buffs. For Machoke, Altaria requires still having Rock Tomb and two Bulk Ups; a single Bulk Up is sufficient for Machamp. Kingdra's ill-advised for Machoke as it would have to one-shot for safety's sake (that 2HKOing Surf) which would require four stacks if using Low Kick and a whopping five if using Brick Break; Surf's a more manageable 3HKO on Machamp, who thusly only needs one Bulk Up. Flygon's significantly easier, requiring only one Bulk Up, regardless of which Mach is used. Salamence is similar to Kingdra in the sense that Machoke needs a ludicrous amount of buffage to handle (made worse by Intimidate) while Machamp manages with a more reasonable two stacks of Bulk Up. * Champion Wallace (Ever Grande City, Water-type): Neither should mess with Wailord as they'll be massacred by Water Spout. Tentacruel is one of the few cases where Earthquake comes in handy, and should only be faced if Mach has it, though Machoke should retreat if it gets nailed by Hydro Pump as it won't survive another. Ludicolo is not a suitable opponent, as it needs to be killed off quickly to keep from Double Teaming into near unhittability, and Mach is unlikely to enter the fight with preemptive buffs as there are few opportunities for that. Machamp can safely Brick Break or better against Whiscash if faster; Machoke cannot. Gyarados is a pretty bad pick too; Mach will be starting down a level in Attack, plus Gyarados can Dragon Dance its way around your Bulk Ups, or simply avoid them with Surf. Machoke definitely needs to avoid Milotic as it cannot defeat him before getting two-shotted by Surf, Machamp might be able to pull it off, but only if Milotic does not spam Surf. * Post-Game: Steven has changed little from his RS incarnation and should be handled in the same manner. And frankly neither wants to wrangle Rayquaza, given that's it's a Flying-type and a legendary. }} Moves Machop starts with Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, and Karate Chop unless it is Lv. 19 or higher, at which point it gets Seismic Toss instead of Low Kick. Karate Chop will probably be your STAB of choice for a good while. Seismic Toss is too situational to use, and is mediocre in the early game. Low Kick can be useful against some opponents early on, but late game is where it'll see a lot of use. At level 22, it gets Foresight. It is very handy against Ghost types, especially against Sableye later on. Level 25 gives you Revenge, which can actually be of good use due to the Machop family's low speed. Vital Throw is next at level 33 (level 31 if you forgo evolution for a little while. Also note that Machamp learns moves at the same level as Machoke). Vital throw is decreased priority and deals less damage than Revenge most of the time, but note that it cannot miss. You should probably skip Submission at level 41, due to its higher risk and relatively low reward. Instead, you might want to go for Cross Chop at 46. This will probably be your endgame STAB along with Low Kick unless you prefer the more accurate Brick Break, since it has 80% accuracy. Scary Face is learned at 51, but it probably isn't worth a move slot, since Machamp prefers to beat up Pokemon with raw power. Finally, Machamp gets DynamicPunch at 59, which would be awesome...if it could hit (If only No Guard existed in Gen III). So to round out Machoke/Machamp's extremely type-limited level-up movepool, we now teach it some nifty TMs. Early in the game, Rock Tomb hits Flying Pokemon hard, and is a good option to help Machoke/Machamp gain some speed by slowing the target. Although, Machoke/Machamp will generally want to run better moves leaving no room for it. Also, Rock Tomb is in its pre-buff stage this gen. Dig can be alright as well, but isn't particularly spectacular. Earthquake 'is generally better. '''Strength '''is a good Normal move for Machamp and also disguises as utility, but it would much prefer '''Facade '''or '''Return '''to work with. '''Bulk Up '''helps it set up well, allowing it to tank physical hits and hit back very hard. '''Brick Break '''is notable, if Cross Chop is too unreliable. ''Recommended moveset: Cross Chop / Brick Break, Low Kick / Earthquake / Foresight, Return / Facade, Bulk Up Other Machop's stats Machoke's stats Machamp's stats * '''What Nature do I want?: '''Anything that raises Attack is ideal, such as Adamant or Brave. * '''At what point in the game should I be evolved?: '''You should be a Machoke by the time you fight Norman. * '''How good is the Machop line in a Nuzlocke?: '''Machop is a solid choice for an early Pokemon that can still hold its own against most opponents up to the late game, thanks to its high attack and decent bulk. However, it cannot be expected to fight everything, nor does it have good options outside of its STAB. * '''Weaknesses: Psychic, Flying * Resistances: Bug, Rock, Dark * Immunities: None * Neutralities: Normal, Water, Ground, Dragon, Ice, Fire, Steel, Poison, Electric, Fighting, Ghost, Grass Category:Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Category:To be reviewed